Trump Calls GOP's Most Toxic Candidate 'Martin Luther King Times Two'
It’s hard to imagine a Republican Party candidate being even more offensive than Donald Trump, but North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is pulling out all the stops.
Over the years, the so-called pastor has called the Holocaust “hogwash” while defending Adolf Hitler. He’s posted Hitler quotes to his social media, accused actresses involved in the #MeToo movement of soliciting sex, called survivors of school shootings “media prosti-tots,” declared Barack Obama’s presidential portrait a reflection of “Marxist Socialism,” and told a nonbinary activist that they should only be allowed to go to the bathroom “outside with the dog.” Naturally, he has joined in delusional right-wing claims that Michelle Obama is a man.
This past Saturday, Trump endorsed Robinson and had something equally powerful to say about the man who has been consistently antisemitic, anti-gay, Islamaphobic, and simply disgusting.
“This is Martin Luther King on steroids,” Trump told a rally crowd in North Carolina. “I told that to Mark. I said, ‘I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two.’”
Trump went on to say that he was not sure Robinson liked the comparison.
“He looked at me,” said Trump, “and I wasn’t sure he was angry, because that’s a terrible thing to say or was he complimented? I have never figured it out.”
Robinson is currently running for governor of North Carolina and has a big lead in the polls going into the primary on Tuesday.
As Daily Kos Elections editor Jeff Singer noted on “The Downballot,” Robinson may skate through the Republican primary but is expected to face a much tougher fight in the fall.
“So pretty much from the beginning, everyone's been expecting this to be a race pitting the Republican Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson against the Democrat, Attorney General Josh Stein,” said Singer. “And it looks almost certainly like that's going to happen. Republicans have fretted for a long time that Robinson is going to be just a toxic nominee because he just has a long history of bigoted writings against, well, pretty much everyone. Again, antisemitic writings, Islamophobic writings, anti-trans writings, and just the statements he said about abortion. And just weird things he's written about, well, Beyoncé, about the moon landing. He's testing whether, even in the Trump era, some Republicans are just too toxic.”
Stein is Jewish, which can’t help but direct attention toward Robinson’s Hitler quotes, Holocaust denial, and years of antisemitism. His likely opponent’s religion probably plays into why Robinson has been making an effort in recent weeks to walk that part of his hate speech back, though he doesn’t seem alarmed enough to clean up his social media.
Despite the widespread visibility of Robinson’s remarks, supporters, including Republican Party officials, claim that reports of Robinson’s statements are “fake news.”
“I can’t help but think that that’s been manufactured by some opposition,” said Ed Broyhill, a national committeeman for the North Carolina Republican Party.
The only thing that may be more offensive than Robinson’s tirades are Trump’s statements comparing Robinson to Martin Luther King Jr. And this isn’t even the first time that Trump has told a similar story. The likely Republican presidential nominee first mentioned making this outrageous comparison in December.
Following a baseless claim that 20% of the mail-in vote was rigged, Trump reassured his supporters that Robinson would have things under control as governor.
”You know, I swear you’re better than Dr. Martin Luther King,” said Trump at that appearance, “And I wasn’t sure if he was happy about that comparison. Because Dr. Martin Luther King was great, and I think he didn’t like that comparison, but he accepted it.”
Why is Trump drawing a line between Robinson and King? It certainly wasn’t prompted by anything that Robinson said or any shared policy with the beloved civil rights leader.
It’s genuinely difficult to convey just how consistently horrible Robinson’s comments have been. His language is insensitive, sneering, vindictive, and ugly. But Robinson is Black, and he supports Trump. For a guy who believes Black people like him because he’s been indicted, treating all Black men as interchangeable seems perfectly in character for Trump.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.
